Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. FRIDAY, JUNE 20, 1884. COLONIAL INDUSTRIES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 174, 20 June 1884, Page 2

Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. FRIDAY, JUNE 20, 1884. COLONIAL INDUSTRIES.

Perhaps the greatest stumblingblocks to the encouragement" and prosperity of Colonial industries -are the freaks and fads that businessmen m New' Zealand will persist m indulging in.\ No' doubt the/want of ready capital and'the high price of labor, _are very great obstacles to surmount, but when_so much favour is given to hpme||nade articles, the manufa& turing prospects of New Zealand a|fe stiliVmore.. severely Vdajnped. «Jt ts_ i said of men that merit is no..t duly ajjbreciated'by its intimate Jicquaintances, and very fitly does the maxim jipply to manufactured goods. Colonial-made goods are not appreciated by Gplonials even if they are thought, highly of m other places ; so much sp, that, from facts easily obtainable jit may be seen that goods manufactured m New Zealand are actually shipped home, and re-sold to us; by English merchants, the colonial buyers being quite satisfied with their purchases so long as' .they ."•hail from : 'the; 014 i. Country. We have an 'example of this which, being most ludicrous, teaches a very serious lesson indeed, which colonial merchants would do well to profit by. In'Chirlstchiirch a firm Pf wool-scourers and tanners Jias..-, .been established during the past few,, years, whic^, though still young, j; has 1 grown fajtfdly 1 ' iti^sizey arid 1 gained much credit for the excel--lence of its manufactures. In fact, the leather turned out is said to be equally aVgotfd j as any tnat is manufactured at any portion of the globe, whether m „ .England or jelsewhere. The head of the firm "recently visit-* ed the representative of a large furniture manufactory m Christchurch, with a^iew an order for some well-prepared leather, sjuitablefor chairj and sofa coverings. Hitherto the leather had been -j^old entirely m the English^marke't m large* quantitie"s. In reply, to 'the solic'tationspf. thejman of leather^' the furniture manufacturer state|j that- he wouldshe pleaslcl to suppo^ local industry iflhels(thk. tanner^ could only produce an article as good as 'that which^ was; «ent/out from London. " The samples were apparently not sufficiently good for the manufacturer, and m vain the local tanner endeavoured to convince him that he could turn out an equal-^ ly good article as was to be obtained from England. " It's of no use," said the manufacturer "when you can make sofa covers like this" (one produced), «• then you shall have a handsome order." The tanner snatched up the piece of leather, a gleam of relief appearing on his features, as he recognised his own firm*s impression or trade mark m one corners The proof was admitted^ the manufacturer had imported leather 1 from England which had originally been manufactured only a few miles off., Had he hot held the bigotted fanciful 'nofiqn^itha^^/.majiiy^liaV^i. that he could hot get a good article'in New Zealand, ,he would not have paid the freight on all hisstufFa distance of .about.S^OQO.mUes. The moral is ojiyious, \ ;if we are^to prosperous industries m the Colonies,' the very first step we must taice is tq^ct jridof pur natural prejudice

to the colonial-made goods. We mus try and disabuse our minds of the mistaken idea that that nothing can be genuine or good unless it has seen London fog or smelt Birmingham smoke, and then, and not before, we may see about starting those industries upon which the future of the colony must of necessity defend. Until we are sufficiently enlightened and far-seeing to recognise the fact that the thousands spent annually m carrying bur wool ' to England m a raw, greasy state, ( j and bringing it back manufactured, j might be judiciously spent m manufacturing it for ourselves j until we '■ have sufficient eritbrprise to actually > man ufacture it /. ourselves, "« and so I keep capital m the country instead- ! of; sending it- home to pay thousands 'of* men and women to do' work which we badly want to dp fprpurselyes*; . until the true principles tof Local j ' Industries ave ; thoroughly ' establish- •.[ 'edj with_ their .concomitants, inijthe' shape, of the renovation of>local mar-| kets and the abolishment prejudices] -we'catnnM expect to lee those healthy signs of development, I with less importation of ' tfrie ; kind 'and yet more of another, which it {should -be our greatest ; desite^ ! and iambi tipn to ; obtain. •. ■,i o : i